Monk
by Dave-Mastor
Summary: A story about Seem, just after Jak 3. Seem and her fellow monks, go on an expedition into the Desert to find a hidden fortress. Rated for violence.


**Yay! First fan fiction! This ones about Seem, a few days after the events of Jak 3. There will probably be spoilers for Jak 2, 3, and Maybe X and TPL.**

**Seem is a girl in this one. She'll always be female in mine.**

The sandstorms were silent this day in the Wasteland; usually this time of the year, frigid ice cold winds would collide with the heated fury of the Wasteland, with thunderous results; enormous sand storms would brew, and the cruel rasp of the sand would buffet unprotected skin, until it bled.

Not today, however, the breath of the sky was light today, with not a cloud in the sky.

And it was _hot_; really hot. Seem wiped the sweat of her forehead, her face paint felt like it was suffocating her today; the face paint was very hard to remove; short of removing the very flesh that it colored, the only other option was to use Green Eco. When the paint was exposed to Green Eco, it would turn back into liquid for a few seconds.

Seem wasn't usually affected by the temperature, like all Precursor monks, she had cooling tubes running all around her head and body, the rubber actually kept the cool in, and insulated against the warmth of the wasteland.

It wasn't enough today, perhaps her suit was damaged, that was likely considering it had been crushed a few weeks earlier; or it was just hot. Wearing all the layers of clothing, in the middle of the desert, with only her hands and face exposed, the cooling tubes were _necessary_, otherwise she would die from the high temperatures.

The last few days had been spent rebuilding the temple, after Cyber-Errol and attacked it; many monks had died when the Dark Makers had assaulted the temple.

Errol, she shivered; he had called the Dark Makers to the planet, and to aid him in attacking the temple, many monks, young and old tried to defend themselves; the Dark Makers were strong, _too strong_. They had succeeded in repelling the first three waves of invaders, suffering only minor casualties. It seemed like they were winning… at first.

After the Dark Maker's fourth and fifth attack waves, even the strongest, dexterous, and most powerful monks were exhausted. The monks barricaded themselves inside the first inner chamber, the very room where, Mar had stood just days before. If only he hadn't destroyed the sentry drones, then they might have fought off the corrupted ones.

Seem tried to heal some of the monks with Light Eco, but the small amount circulating inside her body, ran dry quickly. Errol quickly destroyed the barricade with a blast of Dark Eco. The Eco consumed many of the monks at holding the line, at the barricade. A slaughter ensued. Some monks were lucky enough to be killed by the claws of the Dark Makers. Others had the very life drained out of them, by Dark Eco. A horrible way to die.

She had ordered a retreat of the few remaining monks. Some managed to get to the other side of 'The Gates of Mar' the large unmovable door that had the seal of the house of Mar on it. Errol had blasted the roof above the door, causing a collapse. Others ran through the temple, trying to get to the Oracle Chamber and beyond. None made it.

She was the only monk to make it, to the Temple's archive room. She had hid the Precursor computer core, an artifact so very rare, that there have only been two ever found, one of which had been lost; she had managed to contact Jak, and call him to the temple.

She tried to remove the information regarding the Precursor Translight Warp Gate, the only object capable of bringing Errol to the Dark Maker ship, but old protocols had prevented her from deleting the information.

Then… Errol found her, she tried to stop him, but he threw her back, she had hit the ground hard; she couldn't stop him, hr was too strong, and he gathered the data he needed. He then turned his attention to her, he had picked her up with one mechanical hand; and he crushed her; she remembered the watery snaps as her bones were broken, she remembered the sound of her hardened Precursor armor being bent like paper, she remembered her cooling tubes being pinched off and rupturing, she remembered the unbearable pain as her body was shattered, she remembered the Dark Eco burning her alive….

But, most of all, she remembered the _laugh_, that evil _laugh_. The sound of it, burned into her memory for all eternity. She would never forget the _laugh_.

He dropped her body, bent and broken; scarred and shattered, and he left, to carry out his plans. She had used what little Light Eco the divine Precursors had given her, to mend herself enough to get to the Ring Gate. Shortly after she had arrived there, Jak also did; he had beaten the Dark Makers in the temple.

She had apologized for not having trusted him sooner, and gave him the computer core, to activate the planetary defenses. She had put on her strongest face; she tried to look strong, even with her weak voice. She could hardly hold back the pain, the agony.

As soon Jak had left, she fell to her hands and knees, and she threw up black blood, for what seemed like hours.

The sound of a shovel hitting metal woke her from her memories.

"High Priestess, we've found some Precursor Metal!" One of the monks cried to Seem.

After they had gotten some of the temple repaired, they decided to do an expedition into the wasteland. They were at a promising site, at which they were looking for a large Precursor Fortress, directly linked with the Sub-Rails, which also meant, the Core.

The site was told to be here; by coordinates hidden deep within a rarely accessed tome of the archives. If they could excavate the site, surely they would find not only large quantities of artifacts, but perhaps a new site to use as the temple.

The old temple could be repaired, but it would take much work; years even.

Seem hurried over to the discovery, it could very well be the top of the Fortress they were looking for; it was hard to move, she hadn't fully healed.

After more than a few weak strides, Seem had reached the monk, standing there with his shovel, glancing at Seem, and then the large, mostly covered piece of Precursor Metal, then looked back again. By now, several of the other monks had arrived at the scene.

Seem tried consulting the Precursors to see what tidings they had for her; closing her ring and pinky fingers, and extending her index and middle fingers. She brought her hand close to her head, precisely centering the fingers with her nose.

She closed her eyes, and let the information flow into her mind… whispers… it was quiet. very unusual…

Seem emptied her mind; drained out her perceptions… omens sing the songs of time…. they spoke to her, she couldn't make out what the omens meant, or what the whispers said to her; she tried to reach out, to ask the whispers, but she couldn't.

Then voices started to swirl around her, taunting her, laughing at her, she wanted to silence them, but they wouldn't go away, she tried to push them out of her mind, she needed them to stop, they just laughed louder… but… then the laughter focused… it focused into the laughter of one man… one monster… Errol…

He laughed…. She was terrified… he dwarfed her.

She _begged_ it to stop, she pleaded with it, for it to stop... it was deafening. She couldn't take it anymore, he mind was being beaten down… _crushed_; much like Errol had done to her body, he now did to her mind.

Then in one enormous, awe-inspiring rush, it all came rushing in… it was a tower… it was massive… larger than any she had seen before…. it had four rods protruding from it… no, not rods… support cables... it was a palace… like the one in Haven city… but... no... she had seen pictures of the tower from Wastelanders… it was different… much larger…

And as fast as it came to her, it rushed out. "_What does it mean?_" her mind cried out. It was like she had no air to scream, nothing… no response… no laughter… nothing…

Just black tidings… _Ill _tidings…

Seem's eyes shot open, she was trembling, her insides felt like they'd been torn out, shredded, and stuffed back in; she slowly moved her hand away from her face.

"Nothing." Seem whispered.

The second high priest, Aril, one of the few survivors of the assault, narrowed his eyes. He was the first on the scene of the discovery, and was standing to the right of Seem.

"Nothing?" Aril echoed, slightly louder.

Seem nodded, somberly. Aril looked as if he was going to press further, but he stopped short. He turned to around and said,

"Or'e passus nihil mensis." to the others.

Many monks made various hand gestures, and whispered chants. No tidings, or 'Nothing', was a omen in itself; It signed that they were walking into the Hora Quan's den, and that they should tread lightly, lest they stir the beasts.

The gestures and chants that they made were asking for the Precursors blessings and favor; and _luck_. For whatever it was, that awaited them.

'_I should have been more forceful… I should have asked further!' _Aril thought, but he had seen her, shaking… trembling… he had seen the shear _Terror_, in her eyes, '_why?_' What she knew would be hers, and hers _only_.

"Continue digging!" He said to the nearby Monk, '_And pray something doesn't happen.' _


End file.
